Sunday, December 27, 2009

KARACHI: Pakistan is at war, and this time the war is not at its borders with an enemy country. This war is with its own people and within its own territory. Some call it America’s war whereas the government and the army call it ‘Pakistan’s own war’.

This war has plagued Pakistan's provinces of North West Frontier Province (NWFP), Balochistan, and Punjab with violence between militants and government security forces as well as terrorist activities against innocent civilians. Though, the nature of these violent incidents and terrorist attacks seem similar all over the country, the causes of the conflicts vary in different regions.

In NWFP, the worst hit province in terms of terrorism, Operation Rah-e-Rast against pro-Taliban groups displaced hundreds of thousands of people in April and May 2009. The operation wrapped up on July 7, 2009 with 1,600 extremists killed and 158 soldiers martyred. During the operation, around 300,000 people of Swat took refuge in camps or with relatives.

Not only displacement, residents of the province also bear the brunt of the terrorist attacks in the country. Around 87 such incidents took place in the province, including suicide attacks, hand grenade attacks, rocket and mortar attacks and blasts with remote control devices. At least 824 people, including 228 security officials of different organizations and grades, were killed in attacks during the year.

Attack on shrine of a 17th century Sufi poet - Rehman Baba - in the Akhund Baba graveyard of Peshawar to discourage ‘shrine culture’ shocked the nation. A letter delivered to the management of the mausoleum three days before the attack had warned against its promotion of ‘shrine culture’.

In Balochistan, Pakistan's largest and poorest province, tribal militants are engaged in a long-running, low-level insurgency to gain greater control of the region's natural resources and political power. Analysts say Afghan Taliban groups are also using Baluchistan as a base. Most of the 37 terrorist acts reported from the province were incidents of sectarian violence. Around 66 people, including 11 security officials, were killed in the terrorist attacks. Those killed include 3 academicians, 1 cardiologist, Balochistan Chief Mines Inspector, Balochistan Education Minister, Vice President of Jamhoori Watan Party, Chairman of Hazara Democratic Party, leader of Fiqah Jafria, and leader of Jammat Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat Noorani.

Some of the militant violence has spilled into other parts of Pakistan, with suicide and armed attacks on troops and the country's main cities.

In Punjab, 315 people were killed in 20 terrorist attacks. Those killed include 62 security officials. The worst terrorist incidents were suicide attacks at Moon Market, Lahore and Paradeline mosque, Rawalpindi. More than 85 people were killed in the two attacks.

Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, didn’t remain safe from the terror wave and 28 people were killed in 10 terrorist attacks. Some of the important incidents include suicide attack at UN World Food Program (WFP) office and suicide attack at International Islamic University, Islamabad.

Sindh remained relatively safe in the year 2009. Around 13 people were killed in 14 terrorist activities. Majority of these attacks were target killings or shooting incidents, which apparently had sectarian motives behind them.

Following is a time line of major terrorist attacks in all four provinces of the country.

Terrorist Attacks in NWFP

• January 4: A suicide bomber was killed while two people sustained injuries near a check-post in Officers’ Colony in Bannu. The suicide bomber blew himself up in an attempt to target a check-post but could not succeed as the bomb exploded before he could reach his target.

• January 4: Ten persons, including 4 policemen, were killed and 27 others injured in two bomb blasts near the Polytechnic College in Dera Ismail Khan.

• January 17: In the first incident of its kind in Peshawar, religious scholar Pir Hafiz Rafeeullah, who was kidnapped on January 16, was reportedly slaughtered and his decapitated body was found in the Matani area of the capital on the morning of January 17.

• January 20: Four policemen and 4 civilians were injured when a police patrol van was hit by a roadside bomb on Ring Road in the Hazarkhwani area of Peshawar.

• January 23: Two SF personnel were killed in a car suicide attack near Mingora town in the Swat District of NWFP.

• January 26: At least 5 people have been killed and several wounded in a bomb blast in Dera Ismail Khan. The bomb, attached to a bicycle, went off on a busy main road.

• February 3: One man was killed and 18 others injured in a hand grenade attack on a Sunni mosque at Mohallah Joginwala in Dera Ismail Khan district.

• February 5: A suicide attacker detonated an explosive-laden car near a police station in the Mingora town of Swat District, injuring a dozen officers and destroying part of the building.

• February 9: At least 18 FC personnel were injured in amini-truck suicide attack on the Baran Pul check-post of the Frontier Reserve Police (FRP) in the jurisdiction of Bakkakhel police station in Bannu District.

• February 11: Alamzeb Khan, a Member of Provincial Assembly from the ruling Awami National Party (ANP), was killed and 7 others were injured in a remote-controlled bomb blast in Momin Town in Peshawar.

• February 17: Five people were killed and 17 injured in a car bomb blast outside the Hujra (male guest house) of the union council chief in Bazidkhel village of Peshawar.

• February 20: At least 32 persons were killed and 145 others injured when a suicide bomber exploded himself in the funeral procession of a slain employee of the Tehsil Municipal Administration near the busy Shubra Square in Dera Ismail Khan.

• February 23: A police guard was killed when he flung himself onto a suicide bomber to prevent him from entering a compound in Bannu. The attacker was trying to enter the compound, where judges and senior police officials live and work, when the guard intercepted him. Two other police guards were wounded in the attack.

• March 5: One person was killed and 19 others sustained injuries when a hand-grenade hurled by unidentified miscreants at worshippers exploded in Ameer Hamza mosque in Dera Ismail Khan.

• March 5: Suspected Taliban militants blew an ancient shrine of a 17th century Sufi poet - Rehman Baba - in the Akhund Baba graveyard of Peshawar. A letter delivered three days before the attack to the management of the mausoleum had warned against its promotion of ‘shrine culture’.

• March 7: Eight persons, including five policemen, two Frontier Corps personnel and a civilian, were killed in a remote-controlled car bombing at Mashugagr village in Peshawar. Some villagers also sustained minor injuries.

• March 11: The NWFP Senior Minister and Awami National Party leader Bashir Ahmad Bilour survived an assassination attempt that left six persons, including two suspected suicide attackers, dead in Namak Mandi in Peshawar. Four persons, including a young girl, were wounded in the firing, grenade attack and suicide blast.

• March 18: Five people including three policemen were killed and four injured when over 100 unidentified armed men attacked a police vehicle at the entrance of the University of Malakand at Chakdara in Lower Dir District.

• March 30: Seven persons, including 5 Army soldiers, were killed and 9 others sustained injuries when a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into a military convoy near a filling station on the Bannu-Miranshah Road.

• April 5: Police found bullet-riddled bodies of four local aid workers, including three women, in Shinkiari area of Mansehra District.

• April 15: At least 18 persons, including nine policemen, were killed and five others injured when a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the Harichand Police Post in Charsadda District.

• April 18: At least 27 SF personnel were killed and 55 others injured in a suicide attack on a security check post in the Doaba area of Hangu District.

• April 26: 12 children were killed after playing with a bomb that resembled a football. The children died after the toy-like-bomb exploded in Lower Dir District.

• May 1: The ISPR spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said two Frontier Corps personnel were killed when a suicide bomber blew up a booby-trapped house in the Buner District.

• May 4: A suicide car bomber killed 4 SF personnel and wounded 8 persons in the outskirts of Peshawar.

• May 5: Seven people, including 2 children and a Frontier Corps soldier, were killed and 48 others sustained injuries when an explosives-laden car rammed into a pick-up near a check-post on the Bara road near Peshawar.

• May 11: At least 10 people died and 27 were injured as a suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden vehicle near a Frontier Corps check post in the outskirts of Darra Adam Khel.

• May 16: Two handicapped children and 2 of their teachers were among 11 people killed in a car bomb blast at congested City Circular Road, Peshawar. At least 33 people were injured.

• May 16: Six people, including two women and two children, sustained minor injuries when a low-intensity explosive device went off in a busy market in Peshawar.

• May 22: At least 10 people were killed and 65 others were injured when a powerful car bomb exploded near the Tasveer Mahal Cinema hall in the busy Kabuli Chowk area.

• May 28: Three policemen were killed and 9 others injured in a suicide attack on a police vehicle at the Sra Khawra security post on the Kohat road in the jurisdiction of Matani Police station on the outskirts of Peshawar.

• May 28: A policeman and 2 passers-by were killed and 13 people wounded when a suicide attacker exploded an auto-rickshaw near a police checkpoint in Dera Ismail Khan.

• June 5: A suicide bomber killed 49 worshippers, including 12 children, at a mosque in a remote village of the Dir Upper District. Dozens more were injured in the blast just before Friday congregation in the Hayagay Sharqi village.

• June 7: One non-commissioned officer was killed and five others were injured in an attack on security forces' convoy transporting TNSM deputy chief Maulana Alam and spokesman Amir Izaat to Peshawar, the NWFP capital. Both leaders of banned outfits were also killed in the attack.

• June 11: A man was killed and 13 others, including 9 policemen, sustained injuries in a hand grenade-cum-suicide attack on a police party in the Lateefabad area on Ring Road in Peshawar.

• June 11: NWFP Minister for Prisons Mian Nisar Gul Kakakhel was seriously injured and his two guards were killed when his convoy was ambushed by suspected militants in Darra Adam Khel.

• June 12: Five worshippers were killed and 105 others sustained injuries when a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden van into a mosque during the Friday prayers in the Cantonment area of Nowshera. Two soldiers were among the four persons killed on the spot while most of the 105 wounded were reportedly Army personnel.

• June 14: Nine people were killed and over 40 injured when a powerful explosion ripped through a busy market in Dera Ismail Khan.

• June 22: Two policemen were killed and 7 people, including 3 policemen, sustained injuries when a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into the Thakot Police check-post in Battagram District.

• June 24: Three policemen, including an officer, were killed when some miscreants fired rockets and mortar shells at the Arbab Tapu check-post in the jurisdiction of Matani Police Station.

• July 2: Two policemen were killed and an equal number of people sustained injuries when Taliban targeted a police vehicle with a remote-controlled device in Peshawar.

• July 9: A Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO) employee was killed and three injured when Taliban militants blew up an electricity pylon using a remote-controlled device in Merra Suraizai Payan village on the outskirts of the provincial capital Peshawar.

• July 15: Two people, including an official of the UNHCR, were killed and another injured when suspected Taliban militants attempted to abduct UN officials at the Katcha Ghari Refugee Camp in Nasir Bagh.

• July 15: Two children were injured in a rocket attack. Taliban militants fired three rockets from an unidentified location into the city at about 12:30pm, and one of them hit a house in Sethi Town, injuring a 13-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy.

• July 20: Suspected militants of the Mangal Bagh group killed four policemen in an ambush on the outskirts of Peshawar.

• August 2: In the southern Mashogagar village, terrorists killed a prayer leader Qari Roohul Amin of Sulemankhel, who had been abducted on June 29, and placed three kilograms of explosives with his body to trigger it with a remote control device in the hope that policemen would come close to it. Officials of the bomb disposal squad, however, defused the explosives without any damage.

• August 2: Militants shot dead two policemen in Paharipura. A squad of the Paharipura Police Station was ambushed by unknown gunmen in Islamabad town of Peshawar around 2:30 am while patrolling the streets.

• August 10: Militants fired rockets at a paramilitary checkpoint in Peshawar, killing two civilians. The pre-dawn rocket attack targeted a Frontier Corps base in the city's Hayatabad neighborhood.

• August 16: A soldier was killed and three others sustained injuries in a suicide attack near a SFs checkpoint in the Swat District.

• August 17: Seven people were killed and eight others injured when a bomb placed in a vehicle exploded at a filling station in the Shabqadar area in Charsadda.

• August 18: Suspected militants beheaded a man kidnapped from the Matani area on August 12. Kabir Hussain, who had come from the US and was kidnapped on his way from Peshawar airport to his village Dabori in Kohat District.

• August 22: Two persons were killed and three others injured in a suicide blast in Hayatabad area. The blast occurred in sector N-I Phase IV of the area near the Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC).

• August 23: Three persons were killed and 15 others sustained injuries in a powerful suicide blast close to the house of the slain AI spokesman, Mobin Afridi, in the Momin Town area of Peshawar

• August 30: At least 16 police recruits were killed and 11 others sustained injuries after a suicide bomber detonated explosives strapped to his body at the Mingora Police Station.

• September 4: Suspected militants shot dead two FC troopers in Nasir Bagh suburbs of Peshawar early in the morning while they were patrolling the area.

• September 12: Two policemen were injured in a suicide blast near Doaba Police Station in the Hangu District.

• September 18: At least 33 people were killed and more than 50 injured in a suicide car blast in Kohat District.

• September 26: Two suicide attackers separately rammed their explosives-laden vehicles into a Police station in Bannu and a military-owned commercial bank in Peshawar cantonment area, killing at least 27 people and injuring around another 200.

• September 28: At least four persons, including a prominent anti-Taliban cleric, were killed when a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into a car at Bannu.

• October 6: A woman, a minor girl and a boy sustained injuries when a rocket hit a house in Miskeenabad under the jurisdiction of Bhanamari Police Station, Peshawar at around 2 am.

• October 9: At least 56 persons, including a woman and seven children, were killed and 112 others were injured when a suicide attacker detonated his explosives-laden car at the crowded Soekarno Chowk in Khyber Bazaar in Peshawar.

• October 12: At least 47 persons, including 9 security officials, were killed and 45 others were injured in a suicide attack on a military convoy in the Alpuri area of Shangla District, NWFP.

• October 15: At least 11 persons, including 3 policemen, were killed and 22 others sustained injuries when a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the building of the Saddar Police Station located in the military area of Kohat.

• October 15: An eight-year-old boy, identified as Hamza, was killed and 12 persons, including two policemen, were wounded when a powerful bomb exploded in a three-storey building in the officers’ colony of provincial capital Peshawar.

• October 16: At least 12 persons, including three policemen, were killed and 24 others sustained injuries after a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into the CIA’s Special Investigation Unit in Peshawar.

• October 23: At least 15 people were injured in a bombing outside a restaurant in the Hayatabad area. The bomb was planted in a car.

• October 28: A remote-controlled car bomb killed 117 people – including women and children – and injured around 200 others at the Meena Bazaar in Peshawar.

• November 8: At least 18 people, including a local councillor heading an anti-Taliban Lashkar (militia), were killed and 44 others injured when a suicide bomber blew him up in a cattle market at Adezai village, 25 km south of the capital city of Peshawar.

• November 9: Three persons, including a policeman, were killed and 5 others sustained injuries when a suicide bomber riding an auto-rickshaw blew himself up at a police barricade on the Ring Road in the Latifabad area of Peshawar

• November 10: Suicide car bomb blast at Farooq-e-Azam Chowk, Charsadda. Thirty two people were killed and 80 were injured in the incident.

• November 12: Syed Abul Hassan Jaffry, media manager of the Iranian consulate in Peshawar, was shot dead near his home in Gulbarg. Jaffry was going to his office when he was shot at point-blank range as he turned his car towards the Swati Phatak.

• November 13: At least 17 people, including 10 military personnel, were killed and 60 injured when a suicide bomber on an explosive-laden Shehzore truck detonated the explosive material in front of the regional headquarters of the ISI in Peshawar

• November 13: Twelve people, including 5 security officials, were killed and 26 injured in a suicide attack at a Police Station in the Bannu town of Bannu District.

• November 14: At least 12 persons, including a policeman and a three-year-old child, were killed and another 35 injured when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden vehicle at police check post in Pashta Kharra Chowk, Peshawar.

• November 16: Four persons were killed and more than 30 others sustained injuries in a suicide car bombing which targeted the Badhber Police Station on the Kohat Road near Peshawar.

• November 19: At least 20 people, including three policemen, were killed and 50 others injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the main gate of the Judicial Complex on Khyber Road in Peshawar.

• November 19: A bomb attack on the police van ripped through the vehicle, killing two policemen on the spot and wounding five civilians on the outskirts of Peshawar.

• November 25: The cleaner of an oil tanker, used for NATO forces in Afghanistan, was killed and its driver injured when unidentified gunmen attacked the vehicle on the Ring Road near Tor Baba.

• November 26: A remote-controlled bomb blast injured three people, including two policemen and a young girl, and destroyed an electricity pylon in Bashirabad area.

• November 30: Two police officials were injured when unidentified armed men attacked their vehicle on the Indus Highway, police said.

• December 1: A leading politician, Shamsher Ali Khan, was reportedly killed when a suicide bomber targeted a guest house where he was present. Another 8 people, including his brother, were injured in this attack.

• December 3: A police official was injured in an explosion at a police check-post in the Ragai area of capital Peshawar.

• December 5: At least four people, including a women, were killed and 12 people were injured in a car bomb explosion at United Plaza, Tehkal Market, University Road, Peshawar.

• December 7: At least 12 people, including 2 policemen, were killed and 50 were injured in a suicide attack outside a court in Peshawar.

• December 22: A suicide bomber blew himself at the gate of the Peshawar Press Club, killing 3 persons including a policeman, and injuring 17 others.

December 24: At least 5 people, including a policeman, were killed and 24 were injured in a suicide attack near State Life Building, Saddar, Mall Road, Peshawar.

Terrorist attack in Balochistan

• January 4: Armed men killed a trooper of the Balochistan Constabulary, identified as Abdul Hakeem, in the Shallkot area of Quetta. The attack appeared to be a targeted killing.

• February 24: A Shia trader and three of his sons were shot dead in an apparent sectarian attack on Sariab Road, Quetta.

• March 1: In an apparent act of sectarian violence in Quetta, unidentified men murdered a man and his son, both from the Shia sect. The motorcycle borne attackers opened fire on the victims at their shop on Quetta’s Double Road.

• March 2: Six people were killed and 12 others, mostly students, sustained injuries in a suicide attack on a madrassa (seminary) in Kili Karbala in the Pishin District. The Jamaat-Ulema-i-Islam (Fazlur Rehman faction JUI-F) provincial chief Maulana Muhammad Khan Shirani, the Balochistan Assembly Deputy Speaker Syed Matiullah Agha and provincial ministers belonging to the party were attending a ceremony at the seminary when a 15-year-old boy blew himself up in front of the stage. However, all the JUI-F leadership escaped unhurt.

• March 3: Five Shias were killed in Quetta when unidentified assailants attacked members of a family in the city.

• March 9: Unidentified men on a motorbike killed two Shias in an apparent sectarian attack in Quetta. The victims were shot in their car on Kirani road, on the outskirts of the Balochistan capital.

• April 22: Unidentified militants threw a hand grenade at policemen deployed on the outskirts of Quetta, injuring four policemen and a passerby. Police personnel were on duty in the Hazar Ganji area.

• May 28: At least five persons, including a woman, were killed when unidentified attackers opened indiscriminate fire on a customer service centre on Kalat Street, Jail Road, Quetta.

• June 22: Three Shias, including a union council chief, were killed in Quetta by unidentified men in a suspected sectarian incident. Unidentified armed men reportedly opened fire on Talib Agha, Union Council 47 chief in Quetta, when he was on his way home along with his driver and security guard.

• June 23: The principal of the Government Commerce College was shot dead by two motorcycle borne assailants in a suspected sectarian incident in Quetta.

• July 23: Haji Mohammad Mohsin, principal of the Government High School in Sariab Mills, was going to school when armed men riding a motorcycle opened fire on him, killing him on the spot.

• July 24:Unidentified assailants shot dead a Professor of the Government Degree College on the Sariab Road.

• July 29: A woman was killed and six persons, including two SF personnel, were injured in a grenade attack on a check-post of the Frontier Corps (FC) in the Sairab Road area.

• June 30: Four people were killed and 11 wounded when a bomber targeted a hotel in Kalat in the first-ever suicide attack in Balochistan. The attack in Kalat District appeared to be aimed at disrupting supplies to NATO forces in Afghanistan.

• July 31: Two SF personnel were killed while three others sustained injuries when unidentified miscreants lobbed a hand grenade at a security vehicle on the Spiny Road area.

• August 12: Two persons were killed and six others sustained injuries in a bomb blast and firing incident in the Irrigation Colony area on Sariab Road, Quetta.

August 17: Cardiologist Dr Abid Iqbal Zaidi was shot dead by unidentified armed men on the Fatima Jinnah Road.

• August 17: A man and his two sons were shot dead by unidentified armed men on Sirki Road.

• September 5: Unidentified militants hurled two hand grenades on the City Police Station building, injuring 21 persons including six policemen.

• September 8: Suspected Taliban militants set ablaze eight oil tankers near the Western Bypass, when the tankers were carrying fuel for NATO forces in Afghanistan.

• October 8: Three police officials were injured in a bomb blast at the Spiny Road. The blast took place near a police van which was on a routine patrol on the road.

• October 12: Unidentified armed men killed the Balochistan Chief Mines Inspector on Sariab Road in Quetta. Ashraf Ali was a member of the Shia Hazara community.

• October 13: In another incident of target-killing, the Jamhoori Watan Party Vice-President, Muhammad Aslam Mirza, and his driver were shot dead by unidentified armed men in the Shalkot area.

• October 15: Two persons, including a Frontier Corps trooper, were killed and five others injured in terrorist attacks in Quetta

• October 23: Unidentified gunmen killed an official of the intelligence Bureau (IB), Tanveer Raza, while he was walking on Zargoon Road near the office of the Railways divisional superintendent.

• October 25: Unidentified gunmen killed the Balochistan Education Minister Shafiq Ahmed Khan, a member of the Pakistan People’s Party, outside his residence on Thogai Road, while his brother’s father-in-law, Hydayat Jaffar, was injured in the same attack.

• November 7: 13 people, including two children and a trooper, were injured when a hand grenade exploded at a Frontier Corps checkpost near Meezan Chowk.

• November 17: DIG Police (Operations) Shahid Nizam Durrani and his driver were injured in a bomb blast on Spiny Road. Eight persons, mainly policemen, were injured in the blast.

• November 23: Two policemen were shot dead in Quetta in what appeared to be a case of target killing. The policemen, Sardar Muhammad Samalani and Syed Amir Muhammad Khilji, were on routine patrol on Qambrani Road when unidentified assailants opened fire at them, police said.

• December 7: A car bomb blast injured nine persons and damaged several vehicles and shops at the main gate of the Junior Assistant Colony in the Chaman Housing Society, Quetta.

• December 8: The Saryab station house officer and two other policemen were injured in a hand-grenade attack on a police convoy on the Sabzal Road in Quetta of Balochistan.

Terrorist Attack in Punjab

• February 5: At least 32 persons were killed and 48 others wounded when a suspected suicide bomber blew himself amidst a crowd of Shia worshippers outside a mosque in Dera Ghazi Khan.

• February 7: At least 7 officers were killed in an ambush attack on a checkpoint in Mianwali in Punjab.

• March 3: A convoy carrying Sri Lankan cricketers and officials in two buses was fired upon by 12 gunmen, near the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. The cricketers were on their way to play the third day of the second Test against the Pakistani cricket team. Six members of the Sri Lankan cricket team were injured. Six Pakistani policemen and two civilians were killed.

• March 16: At least 15 people were killed and 25 injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up near a busy bus stand at Pirwadhai in Rawalpindi.

• March 30: Nine people, including 8 police recruits and a civilian, were killed and 93 cadets and civilians were injured when about 10 terrorists attacked the Manawan Police Training School in Lahore with guns and grenades.

• April 05: A suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance of an Imambargah at Chakwal in Punjab province, killing 24 people, including three children, and injuring 140 others.

• May 27: At least 27 people were killed and 326 were injured in a suicide car bomb blast near offices of the capital city police officer (CCPO) and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in Lahore. An ISI colonel and 15 police officials were among those killed.

• June 12: Seven persons, including a prominent anti-Taliban cleric Sarfaraz Naeemi, were killed and seven injured when a suicide attacker detonated himself at the Jamia Naeemia madrassa (seminary) in the Garhi Shahu area shortly after Friday prayers.

• July 2: At least 7 people were killed and 36 persons were injured when a young suicide bomber rammed his motorcycle into a bus carrying employees of the Army-run Heavy Mechanical Complex at the Peshawar Road near Chur Chowk in Rawalpindi.

• August 20: Eight people, including 4 policemen, were injured when a bomb exploded close to a police patrol car on the Misryal road in Rawalpindi.

• September 6: Three policemen were shot dead in Hasan Abdal in apparent act of targeted killing.

• October 10: At least 14 people, including six soldiers, five SSG commandos, three hostages, were killed in an attack on Pakistan Army General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi.

• October 15: At least 19 people, including 14 security officials, were killed and 41 others sustained injuries in three separate terror attacks in Lahore. The attacks were carried out at the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) building on the Temple Road, the Manawan Police Training School and the Elite Police Academy on the Bedian Road.

• October 23: Eight persons were killed and 17 others sustained injuries when a suicide bomber exploded himself at a police check-post on the GT Road near the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) in Kamra in the Attock District.

• October 24: A Motorway police official was killed when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden car near Lillah Interchange close to Kalar Kahar.

• November 2: At least 35 persons, including two women and children, were killed and 63 others sustained injuries when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a branch of the National Bank of Pakistan in Rawalpindi.

• December 4: At least 42 people were killed and 77 people were injured in firing and two suicide blasts at Parade Lane Mosque, near the Pakistani army's headquarters in Rawalpindi.

• December 7: Two bomb blasts killed at least 45 people, and injured more than 100 at the crowded Moon Market in Allama Iqbal area of Lahore in Punjab. The two bombs exploded 30 seconds apart at 8:45 PM (PST).

• December 8: A group of three Taliban militants launched a gun, rocket and suicide attack on the office of ISI, killing at least 12 people and injuring 18people in Multan, Punjab.

Terrorist Attacks in Islamabad

• March 23: A policemen was killed and 2 policemen were injured in a suicide bomb blast at the entrance of the headquarters of the Special Branch (SB), an intelligence agency of the Federal Capital Police, in Sitara Market.

• April 04: Eight Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel were killed, and seven others injured, when a suicide bomber blew himself up at an FC check post on the Margala Road in Islamabad.

• June 6: Two policemen were killed and four others injured in a suicide attack on a Rescue 15 office at Sector G-8 in capital Islamabad.

• September 2: Religious Affairs Minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi was injured in a brazen attack in Islamabad while his driver and a police guard were killed.

• October 5: A suicide bomber targeted the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) office in Islamabad, killing five persons, including a UN diplomat and two women employees. Six other staff members were injured.

• October 20: Two suicide bombers targeted the new campus of the International Islamic University Islamabad in the H-10 sector of Islamabad, killing at least six students and staff members, including two female students, and injuring more than 29 others.

• October 22: A serving Army brigadier, Moinuddin Ahmad, and his driver were gunned down in Islamabad.

• October 27: A military officer, Brigadier Waqar Ahmad, escaped death as two gunmen riding a motorbike attacked his car.

• November 6: Gunmen opened fire on an army brigadier vehicle in Islamabad. Brigadier Sohail and his driver were injured in the incident.

• December 2: An official of the Pakistan Navy foiled a suicide attack on the Naval Headquarters at Zafar Chowk on the Margalla Road in the national capital Islamabad. However, two Navy personnel were killed in the attack, while 13 persons were injured.

Terrorist Attacks in Sindh

• January 20: In a suspected sectarian incident, unidentified gunmen shot dead a shop owner from the Ahmadiyya community outside his house in the Kotri District of Sindh province.

• February 1: An explosion in the Saddar Town of Karachi killed one person and injured two others. One unidentified man - who fidgeted with the bomb planted in a garbage dump, which caused the explosion - died and two others sustained injuries.

• April 15: A 28-year-old sectarian worker-turned-lawyer was shot dead near Hamdard Dawakhana off the arterial M.A. Jinnah Road in Karachi. Mazharul Islam, was a former member of the banned Sunni outfit SSP.

• May 22: Four persons were injured in a cross-fire between two groups after pro-Taliban slogans were found painted on the walls of a church in Surjani Town, Karachi.

• May 24: A senior activist of the banned SSP was shot dead in a target killing. 40-year old Allauddin was the Lines Area Unit in-charge of the banned Sunni outfit, and had earlier worked for the LeJ.

• May 27: Another activist of the banned Sunni outfit SSP was shot dead while his son Sufian was injured by two gunmen near a Tandur in Gulshan-e-Iqbal in the Aziz Bhatti Police limits of Karachi.

• June 5: Mir Yaqub Bizenjo, legislator from Balochistan, three of his relatives and a servant were injured after a parcel bomb exploded in his Defence Society house in Karachi.

• July 15: Unidentified men killed the central legal adviser of the outlawed Sunni group, the SSP, Hafiz Ahmed Buksh, in Model Colony in Karachi.

• July 16: Two more activists of the outlawed SSP, including a guard of the group’s central leader Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Nadeem, were killed in Karachi. One of them died at a hospital after being injured in the clash a day earlier while another’s body was recovered from Model Colony.

• August 17: Armed men shot dead Allama Ali Sher Hyderi, chief of the banned SSP, along with his associate Imtiaz Phulpoto at Khairpur in the Sindh province.

• September 18: At least three persons sustained bullet injuries during a sectarian clash, which erupted at Iftar time in the precincts of Soldier Bazaar Police Station at Karachi in Sindh. The clash took place between the Shia community and the people belonging to the Deobandi school of thought over the use of loudspeaker during Iftar.

• November 19: Ghulam Muhammad Waezi, a Shia clericm was shot dead in the Orangi Town area of Karachi, within the jurisdiction of Tori Bungash Police Station.

• November 20: In a suspected sectarian incident, the general secretary of the banned Sunni outfit SSP Karachi chapter, Engineer Ilyas Zubair, was shot dead and provincial information secretary, Qari Shafiqur Rehman Alvi, wounded at Teen Hatti under the Jamshed Quarters Police Station jurisdiction in Karachi.

• December 7: The leader of Pasban-e-Aza, a Shia organization was shot dead by unidentified militants in a suspected sectarian attack in the remit of the Brigade Police Station of Karachi. The slain leader was identified as Syed Shahid Hussain.

(Data for this report was compiled with the help of news reports on SAMAA website, other media sources, agencies report and South Asian Terrorism Portal)